If you have ever had the thought that being a pirate would be fun, the new game “Sea of Thieves” might be for you.
“Sea of Thieves” is an open world, massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that allows you to play as a pirate trying to get as much “booty” as possible by taking on quests called voyages.
There are three factions in the game, with each giving you different types of voyages. The Gold Hoarders faction sends you out to look for buried treasure, the Merchant Alliance wants you to find supplies and deliver resources and the Order of Souls wants magical artifacts that are guarded by undead armies.
As you finish voyages for each of the factions you receive gold and gain levels with them, which opens up harder voyages that give more gold. This leveling system is unique as you don’t gain any new abilities, or even better equipment, as you level up. Currently all the gold you get can only be used to buy cosmetic upgrades for your ship, weapons and characters.
“Sea of Thieves” has received mixed reviews, yet almost everyone has only good things to say about sailing in it. Sailing in the game is made to be as close to real life as possible, making you raise anchor, set sails and steer just like you would have as a pirate back in the early 1700’s. This also means that it’s best to set sail with a crew, rather than trying to go solo.
Every time you start the game it gives you the option to choose from two ships. The galleon is the larger of the two, made for a crew of four, and the sloop is the smaller ship, made for a crew of two. Each ship has pros and cons, so you should choose whichever fits the number of people you’re playing with. However, if you want a larger crew you can group up with random people in the game.
As you’re out sailing you will most likely run into other players. These encounters can be a chance to make new friends, but it’s more likely to turn into a battle.
Combat on the high seas is where this game truly shines. Not only do you have to keep control of the ship, but trying to hit another ship with your cannons is no easy task. You will have to grab cannonballs from barrels, then load the cannons before you can fire, and trying to aim while the ship moves with the waves is extremely tough. Having a crew that works well together is paramount in these battles.
The fighting is not limited to firing cannons at each other, and sometimes it’s best to abandon that route and try to take over the enemy ship instead. You do this by boarding their ship and killing their crew. To board another ship you could just try swim over to it and climb up, but it’s much more fun to fire yourself out of a cannon to land on their deck! Typically, though, your aim will be a little off and you’ll have to climb up anyways.
Combat on foot is also pretty fun. You have the choice of four weapons; a cutlass and three different guns. You can hold two at a time, and most players agree that the cutlass should be one of those. The three guns are the pistol, blunderbuss and the Eye of Reach, which is a rifle. Each gun can only hold five rounds, so you need to make them count.
“Sea of Thieves” may provide a lot of fun moments through this combat, but the game is lacking in many other aspects. When you first start playing, you are pretty much left to yourself to figure everything out as there is almost no tutorial to speak of. This can be frustrating as the mechanics of the game can be complicated.
This lack of direction alone is not enough to deter most gamers from playing, but when you add in the fact that there is no story (and I mean absolutely none at all), the game starts to lose its appeal for many. You also need to be prepared to do the same things over and over again, as each voyage from a faction is going to be almost exactly the same task just in a different location.
The repetitive nature of the voyages, and having no storyline, make it hard to keep going back to play “Sea of Thieves,” but the game’s developer, Rare, has already promised new content very soon. Some of the content Rare has mentioned are minor, such as the ability to get pets and the possibility of limited-time events that will give exclusive rewards, but they have also promised larger content drops in the future.
In its current form, “Sea of Thieves” is considered by many critics an incomplete game. Even with a lack of content it is still quite entertaining, but if Rare does not hold up to the promise of more content the longevity of it comes into question.
Currently the best option to play the game is through Microsoft’s Game Pass. If you have Game Pass you can play “Sea of Thieves for free, and if you don’t have Game Pass you can get a 14 day free trial. However, if you’re not set on playing it yet, you might want to wait to see what new content comes out first.
Daniel Riley
Managing Editor